Category Archives: Local Life

A look, in photos, of latest area events, local everyday people and places.

Local Life

Retro RFH Football Players

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Call them players. It’s all about keeping in step with the high school game. And the RFH Football Team played on …

So did the band. Both players of a different kind. Playing to the same tune — the game. But school spirit and team player strength doesn’t always come in numbers. With high school football season on the horizon, memories come to mind of the old days when the RFH Band played on and in step with many more field-marching members than these days. The football team the band was playing about? Not so much. There was a time when the RFH football team was small — smaller than the band that trumpeted the team.

Band was big and so was a big band era decades ago, for that matter. In fact, going back more than half a century, like back to the 1930s, when RFH was Rumson High School, the football team was minuscule by comparison. There was no regional in the high school name. And the population was, well, low. There were sprawling estates, farms (with a lot of asparagus growing wild) and berries aplenty for picking.

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Local Life

Focus: Fair Haven Oktoberfest Fete

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There was no rain on the September Oktoberfest parade of festivities on Saturday in Fair Haven. Despite iffy forecasts, the good weather odds won out and so did the fun for the now annual event. There were no lederhosen in sight, but spirits were high.

Take a look for a glimpse into the event … (And don’t forget to click to enlarge each photo in the lower gallery and advance to the next!) Enjoy!

— Elaine Van Develde

 
Local Life

the R-FH Area Weekend: Oktoberfest, Clean Ocean Action Rally & Clearwater

With weather looking a bit iffy for the weekend, forecasts are not putting a halt on either event that’s set for Saturday.

First, starting at 10:30 a.m. on the banks of the Navesink at Marine Park in Red Bank, Clean Ocean Action in concert with area environmental groups, is hosting a rally on the Navesink to fight a fracking project.

From Clean Ocean Action …

As a critical NJ Department of Environmental Protection deadline looms on the three-year battle to stop the Williams Transco Northeast Enhancement Supply (NESE) fracked natural gas project, Clean Ocean Action in encouraging citizens to attend a rally on the Navesink River on Saturday morning to send the message to Governor Murphy that the pending permits for the project must be denied. 

A coalition of environmental, fishing, business and community groups has united to fight the pipeline and is hosting a rally to urge Governor Murphy to deny the permits again, and this time to do so with provisions that prohibit reapplication.   

The rally will be held by the pier at Marine Park in Red Bank from 10:30 a.m. to noon. People are urged to attend and bring signs.

Right after that, in Marine Park, is the celebration of the 44th Annual Clearwater Festival.

And, starting at 4 p.m. in Fair Haven is the annual Oktoberfest at Fair Haven Fields.

The Oktoberfest will feature food, entertainment, craft beer and wine and more.

Food trucks to be featured are: Tony’s Sausage, Simply Sofrito, Pasta Amore (Umberto’s), You Scream for Ice Cream, The Zeppole Guys, Surf BBQ, Rheadies and The Philly Pretzel Factory.

Craft beer vendors are: Wet Ticket, Asbury Park Brewing, Carton, Jug Handle and Biravino.

The band line-up is: Rhyme & Reason (Dave Matthews Tribute Band) at 4 p.m., 10-Sting at 6 p.m., and the Moroccan Sheepherders at 8.

Organizers say that there is no rain date for the event so it WILL go on!

Local Life, Opinion

Retro Whistle Stop Kids’ Scene

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Sept. 11 marked the 35th anniversary of the iconic Fair Haven Whistle Stop owner Frank Leslie’s death. So, in honor of Mr. Leslie and the wonderful memories he and his wife, Barbara, gave so many Fair Haven kids, we are reprising our piece on the Leslies and their oh, so sweet after-school stop. Thank you, Frank Leslie. You are remembered. Thirty-five years? Wow.

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By Elaine Van Develde

Sometimes all it takes is a jawbreaker, a slice of Elio’s frozen pizza, pinball and friends all enveloped in a gingham-curtained room with a jovial giant of a dad host to make a bunch of kids smile.

Sometimes. Some simpler time back in time.

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Local Life

Hometown Gem: Sonia Reevey Gets Her Day

Sonia Reevey sings My Buddy at Fair Haven’s Memorial Day Service in 2015
Photo/Elaine Van Develde

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She may live far away in Georgia now, but Fair Haven will always be home to Sonia Reevey. The matriarch of the Reevey family, roots set in the borough, has always honored her hometown by volunteering and just plain being a great neighbor, always with warmth for the love of Fair Haven and a smile.

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Local Life

Retro Fair Haven Kindergarten Daze

A Knollwood School kindergarten class of 1956 or ’57
Photo/courtesy of George Martin

Well, school is back in session. Students are settling into the classroom routine. And for some, it’s a new experience. We’re talking kindergarten kids.

While many, or most, in this era have already been to some sort of pre-kindergarten class, that was not the case years ago. In fact, the first day of school really was a first day in a school for kindergarteners. And it could be traumatic for both parents and students.

Yes, it was only half a day of school, but it was all new: the drop-off (or rope walk), the first-day outfit and haircut, the new friends from the other side of town, the teachers, the classroom. All of it.

Then there was the school itself. There was a time when there were three school buildings in Fair Haven.

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Local Life

Focus: A Fair Finish

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The rides are dismantled. The chowder is sold out. The grounds are cleared. Games of chance are won and done. Town tales spun, lifetime friendships rekindled and begun. The 2019 Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair has come to a close for another year, but not before a banner finale.

Here’s a glimpse into fair closing night happenings and people on Saturday, from daylight to dark … (Don’t forget to CLICK on each photo to enlarge! Click again on same photo to advance to the next. Enjoy!)

— Elaine Van Develde

Local Life, Opinion

Reflection: All’s Fair in the Middle

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There have been a lot of significant beginnings and endings lately. The end of summer. The beginning of locals’ summer. The start of school — new chapters and first days.

But, what about the middle? The end of the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair brings me, and probably more than a few others, back to that middle.

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Local Life, Opinion

Remembrance of the Fair Stock Room Dude — Dad

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The following piece was originally published on Aug. 31, 2015. It is being re-run, with changes only in the amount of years that have passed, in memory of my father, Bill Van Develde, former longtime Fair Haven Fire Company member, president and captain of the Fire Police and chairman of the stock room at the fair, on the anniversary of his death on Aug. 31, 1983. RIP, Dad. You are missed. Thank you for all the embarrassing moments that I didn’t appreciate enough. Thank you for making Fair Haven my home. Thank you for being a real dad. See you later at the fair …

Retro Fair Haven Firemen's Fair stock room days in the 1970s Photo/FHFD booklet
Retro Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair stock room days in the 1970s
Photo/FHFD booklet

By Elaine Van Develde

It’s been 36 years, but I can still see his face and that kooky Brylcreemed hairdo. I can still hear his crazy belly laugh and that signature “Take ‘er easy, buddy!” I can still see him slapping kids on the back, forever clutching his trusty clipboard, pencil perched behind his ear, sweat on the brow and finger wagging.

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